Ego leans against the counter, popping her gum with a grin. “We’re all in there, boys. Sakane and Bash are still mugshot-free for now, but the descriptions are spot-on. Give it till sunset, and they’ll have sketches to add to the collection.” She purses her lips and taps her chin. “I wonder if I signed a few of these if I could sell them.”
“Fucking fantastic,” Cato growls, shoving the paper back at Bash.
“Well, we can’t go home now,” Bash says.
Cato throws his hands up. “Can’t go anywhere in this damned city.”
“Hey, Bash?” I mutter, chewing on my lip. “Can I talk to you in private?”
Everyone else watches us, but he focuses solely on me.
“Of course,” he says.
He jogs the papers to straighten them before handing the stack to Ego. “Make sure Sakane isn’t getting into any trouble, would you? It makes me nervous when I can’t keep tabs on him. And Cato, help Nelly clean the kitchen.”
Cato scoffs and rests his hands on his hips. “You’re seriously telling me to clean up after you and your boyfriend while you go make kissy faces at each other?”
“Sure am,” Bash says as he flashes him a wide, sarcastic smile.
Bash reaches back, taking my hand as we walk towards the bedroom we’re sharing. The sheets are rumpled in evidence of our morning activities, and it already smells like us in here.
I release Bash’s hand and wander over to the window, peeking out of a tiny crack in the curtains as my heart pounds.
He approaches slowly, tracing his fingertips along the side of my torso. “Xen?”
“I want to be selfish,” I whisper. “Does that make me awful?”
He tugs on my shirt in a silent request to face him, and a question waits in his expression.
I bite my lip, glancing again at the deceptively cheery sunshine beyond the window. “My father’s wrath is aimed right at us, the alarms are blaring outside, and our faces are plastered on every corner of the city. That’s what I should be worried about, but it isn’t.”
I take his hands, finding the bravery to face him. “The world is falling apart, and all I can think about is that it gives me an excuse to ask you again.”
“Ask me what?”
“To come with me, even though you aren’t safe with me—”
“I am only safe with you,” he argues. “Onlywith you. Right here, holed up in this apartment, with the entire fucking military on our heels? I feel safer now than I ever did in the years I didn’t have you by my side.”
“If you knew what was good for yourself, you’d say no. You’d run away, hide in the wilderness, and never tell me where you are. He will never stop hunting me.”
“I know that,” he counters, voice steady.
“I want you to say yes,” I admit, contradicting myself as the words spilling out against my better judgment. “And come with me.”
He wraps his arms around my neck and tugs me closer. “My place has always been with you.”
“I’d lead you into the middle of a fight that doesn’t belong to you,” I say in one final, pitiful attempt to sway him.
Bash doesn’t flinch as considers this, his fingers tickling along the nape of my neck. “This fight has belonged to us for a long time, Xen. Ever since that mark showed up on our hips. Before that, even. We saw what they were doing. We took part in it.”
I nod as I swallow past the lump in my throat. “I wanted to help them… but I wanted you more. Does that make me awful?”
He shakes his head. “If it does, it makes me awful, too. I think it’s time we fought back.”
“Will you come with me?” I breathe, my heart racing in my chest. “If we can find a way out of the city, will you come?”
“Yes,” he whispers.
